


Hasty Promises

by bryar6



Series: A Wizard's Beginnings [7]
Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: 1910s setting, Arguing/Fight, Character Study, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gen, OR IS IT, Swearing, but it's resolved dont worry, character backstory, kinda angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:54:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26887705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bryar6/pseuds/bryar6
Summary: The fake dating scene we all knew we needed at least one of. Douxie and Zoe have to lie their way out of a potentially bad situation, sometime in the late 1910's, along with a bit of healthy disagreement because it's bound to happen over the years.
Relationships: Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan & Archie, Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan/Zoe
Series: A Wizard's Beginnings [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1941658
Comments: 9
Kudos: 34





	Hasty Promises

**Author's Note:**

> Rated teen for a good deal of swearing, but that's about it. 
> 
> It's a little on the short side, but it's just a bit important considering my upcoming chapters on Saudade (post-wizards fic) so I'd suggest reading this before you read after chapter 6, helps explain a few things behind Douxie's concerns/references. Not vital, however, it just all ties in. Hope you enjoy!

Douxie sprints down the hallway of the hotel, Archie tearing across the carpet ahead of him. The security guards are on his tail, hollering something he can’t make out. All he knows is that he needs to find Zoe, and quick. He’ll figure out an explanation for why when he gets there. He flies up flights of stairs, other pairs of feet echoing up the stairwell from below him. 

“I promise you, I just need to talk to someone and then I’ll be out of your hair!” he shouts. 

“Don’t make them angrier,” Archie hisses, knowing his voice will be lost to the chaos. 

“I’m trying, Archie,” Douxie squeezes out between hard breaths. They hit the sixth floor and Douxie shoulders the door open and drags his eyes across the room numbers as he runs. _Three-hundred and ten...three-hundred and ten...there!_

Douxie grips the doorknob tightly, using a freezing spell to break the lock. He shoves it open and finds Zoe standing there in complete shock and confusion, wearing a simple nightgown and bathrobe over that, wet hair clinging to her face. But her expression quickly shifts to annoyance. 

“Casperan? What-” 

“Zoe, listen to me, some changelings found me and are somewhere in the street outside of the hotel. They’re on our tracks and I think they’ve got a stalkling with them. We need to get out of here, right now,” he pants. Archie nods seriously by his familiar’s feet. 

“Why were you running? Oh my god, Douxie, you didn’t bust past security, did you? And you broke the lock. Great.” Zoe drags a hand down her face, exasperation showing. “What’s your plan for all this?” 

“Stop! Come out now before we call the department on you!” come the voices in the hallway. Douxie meets her eyes with a sort of uneasy sheepishness, to which she responds with disappointment. He turns around. 

“Sirs, I am so, sorry, I just had something really, really important to tell my friend here, I promise you, I just need like five minutes and you can kick me right out to the street, I mean no harm-” Douxie says, holding his hands up, but one of the men’s shouts cut him off. 

“Friend, eh? Who is she to you? People like you,” spits the man, gesturing to Douxie’s ratty clothing, “don’t have friends that stay in five-star hotels.” 

“I actually just came from work, believe it or not, the mechanics shop. And, well, more than a friend, she’s my…” Douxie looks at her, throwing a pleading expression. _She certainly won’t pass as my sister…_ “She’s my fiancee.” 

“You’re just old enough to be dodging the draft, aren’t you?” the men growl. “Should hand you right over anyways.” 

“I’m the only remaining child in my family, sirs, and we’re to be married in the coming months. She doesn’t work, she can’t, she has health issues…” Douxie steps back and puts his arm around her, his hand meeting hers where they were clasped behind her back. Douxie slips something into her palm as unnoticeably as possible. 

“I didn’t see a ring!” says the other man. 

“Ah, not to worry,” Douxie says, looking insistently at Zoe. He leans close to her shoulder, as quiet as possible. “Please, play along.”

Zoe holds out her left hand, adorned with a silver, gemstone-studded band, a sizable sapphire, the featured gem. It’s a stunning piece of craftsmanship. “He proposed a few months ago. It was his mother’s ring, actually,” Zoe says, holding her hand to her chest and casting a sorrowful look to Douxie. Douxie lets his eyes mist over, finding it easy enough to recall the abuse suffered at his parents’ hands. 

“It’s all I have left. They lost their lives in a fire, took everything else and I’ve been working my way ground up.” Douxie looks back to them, trying to think of anything else he can do to paint the scene. 

“Still don’t know why you couldn’t have just stopped in the office,” one of the men says, clearly unconvinced. 

Douxie decides a white lie might be the way to go. “Well...we’d had a fight just the other day, and I knew I had to apologize before I lost her. I have to catch a train in…” Douxie looks to his watch and sucks in a breath. “Thirty minutes. I’m headed south, there’s a gig with the company down that way that I said I’d pick up. I really, really need to just do this and I’ll be gone, alright?”

“I’m only here to visit him, it was just for the weekend,” Zoe says softly. “I’m glad you came back.” 

Douxie can’t tell what’s acting or what’s not anymore. Was she really? Their spat earlier hadn’t exactly ended well. 

“Of course I came back, love.” And that time, he means it. He really does want to apologize. But Douxie realizes that anyone could play this game and the men were still judging them intently. It would take more than simple talk to pull this off. _Good thing we’ve known each other nearly our whole lives._ “Forgive me for this,” Douxie whispers to her. He leans down and kisses her gently, briefly, and pulls away. Zoe clearly plays right along with it, face softening as he pulls away, a distinct blush on her face. “I could never leave you behind like that.” 

Zoe takes his hand, smiling. Douxie is still completely unsure as to what she’s just playing at anymore. She acts like this is nothing new at all, and it seals his little act. 

“Hrrmph. Fine. You’d better be gone in fifteen minutes, and I expect you to use the front entrance on your way out,” the taller guard says. He turns and leaves, the other guard making a face before leaving. Douxie closes the door to the hallway and sighs out in relief, flipping the lights on and leaning into the wall. 

Zoe’s smile immediately drops as soon as the door is shut, a serious scowl on her face. As soon as they hear the elevator ding, Zoe marches over to him, coming to stand barely inches from his face. He winces and cringes away, suddenly fearful she’d slap him. _She wouldn’t do that though, she knows about my trauma. I trust her._ She stabs a finger into his chest, applying some relative pressure, and Douxie relaxes. _It’s stupid I’m still not over that. It was hundreds of years ago._

“I cannot _believe_ you right now. First, you go and do something stupid and leave me to end up stuck in this damn hotel for a weekend because I hurt my leg saving your sorry ass, while you’re out and about stirring up gods know what, and then you lead the changelings right back here- where I am! -and then break into a hotel! Seriously! How old are you? Eight hundred? Because you sure as hell don’t act like it. And then you get back here and we have to act out this whole scene!” Zoe is red in the face, seething. To his knowledge, she’s not been this pissed off in a very, very long time. Douxie keeps his mouth shut. “It had better be a hundred damn long years before you ever even _think_ about trying something like that again.” 

“Zoe…” Douxie runs his fingers through his hair, closing his eyes. 

“I don’t want to hear it. Let me pack my things and we’ll get out of here.” She turns around, picking up scattered possessions around the room. She shoves them into a suitcase with unnecessary force. 

“Please, let me just say this.” Douxie pleads, coming up behind her. “I am so sorry for what I said before. I was wrong. I was reckless and put myself into danger and I shouldn’t have gone without you. You are completely justified in being upset with me. And please forgive me for that whole mess back there, I am so sorry about that. I’d ask that we could just forget about that all, but I know that’s not happening-”

“You’re right in thinking I’m not going to be able to forget about it. I just need a bit to process this all. I’m understandably upset. Just, gods, I don’t know. You’re difficult sometimes.” He frowns. Zoe heaves a sigh and uses her wand to cast a trickier spell on her suitcase. It transforms into a hand purse that she lifts easily. “I’m going to get dressed. I’ll meet you in the hall. We’ll play it off like I’m seeing you off and then we’ll just go.”

“Okay.” Douxie leaves the room and puts his hand back on the door, trying a spell to fix the lock. It seems to fail several times. Douxie gives up. Archie joins him, weaving around his feet. 

“You’ve done a right good job of things this time,” Archie says. 

“Shut up, Arch. I know I messed up. I’m going to fix it.” And he’s determined to. He has to. Zoe is his oldest human friend and if he’s ever meant anything, it’s that he won’t leave her behind. 

Zoe comes out after a couple more minutes, wearing a long coat and a simpler skirt and blouse under it. She says nothing and takes off down the hall, leaving Douxie to follow after her. He notices her limp and grimaces. They stand beside each other in the elevator. As the doors close, Douxie clears his throat. 

“I won’t do anything like that again if I can help it. And I promise I won’t leave you behind, either, unless there’s no other choices.” 

“I know you’re being honest. I’m sorry for calling you difficult, I don’t mean that. Just don’t pull anything like that again.” The elevator dings as it slows to a stop. “And you’d better never kiss me like that again.” With that, the doors open and they make their way into the lobby. 

Douxie nods, but stumbles over her word choice a little. _So is she up for being kissed again, but a different scenario? Or not at all? Gods, this must be confusing no matter how long you live._

They wave to the security guards and head down the street at a leisurely pace, walking faster as they round the corner. Zoe hails an automobile off the street and they get in, headed miles and miles away from here. She falls asleep with her head on Douxie’s shoulder, and it isn’t long before he’s asleep too, Archie sprawled across their laps.

**Author's Note:**

> ...if you were wondering, I did not describe that ring in detail for no reason...


End file.
